These Foolish Things Remind Me of You
by La Vik
Summary: AU AFTER HIATUS  Sam Evans was sure he'd found the most world-changing love with Mercedes Jones. He was willing to sacrifice, to wait, but is that what being young is all about or can an old friend remind him to hold onto sixteen as long as he can?
1. Chapter 1

_Hello and greetings, readers! Some of you might recognize me from my Harry Potter fanfiction – if you're counted among this group, my apologies for the long hiatus in "Grim Becomings", I'm still reeling from Post-Potter Depression and my muse has gone into hiding, but I hope to get back to it soon._

_Anyway, to keep this intro brief – I'm venturing briefly into the Glee fandom because I've been a fan since day one. This story is **OcxSamxMercedes**, with endgame still undetermined. I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not myself a Samcedes shipper, I also want to be able to do justice to the relationship they have in the show._

_So, without further ado, here we go!_

* * *

><p>Dwight and Mary Evans had been careful about bringing up their children in an environment in which they could be protected from hurt and pain, because that was their role as parents. Even at their worst, when money was at its most scarce, it mattered most to be present, to intervene when problems presented themselves, to show love - to be parents.<p>

So, when their oldest child, Sam, called all the way from Lima, Ohio on the verge of tears, Mary Evans's parental instinct immediately kicked in. It was still new territory, attempting to address their teenage boy's lovelife woes, but when he was so shattered after being rejected by a certain Mercedes Jones, they simply sent the younger children to bed and listened. Then, after Sam had hung up the phone at around three the next morning, they went to bed with heavy hearts, knowing there was nothing they could do at the moment to alleviate his suffering.

The next morning after breakfast, Mary sat down at the family's old, oversized desktop computer and pulled up her son's Facebook page - she had no idea why everyone poked fun at their little Sammy for having his mother as a Facebook friend - and began browsing through the album titled "New Directions".

"Well," she said with slightly pursed lips. "That's Mercedes. That's the girl."

"I remember her! She's pretty. She smiles real big," Stacey pointed out, peering around her mother at the computer screen. "And she sings real good -"

"Knock knock," came a prim voice from outside the door, and the Evans family all craned around to see a petite girl with curly brown hair standing on the front porch, peeking through the window. "Is it alright to come in?"

"Alison!" Mrs. Evans said excited, practically gliding over to the door and opening it for the girl. Stevie and Stacey each scurried forward as well and hugged the young woman around the knees as Mr. Evans gave a hearty chuckle.

Alison Greer had known the Evans family for nearly as long as they could all remember. She had been born in Tennessee, and she and Sam had grown up together, gone to elementary school together, read Dr. Seuss together, played Pokemon, skinned knees together - up until Dwight Evans had been transferred to Lima, and Kendall Greer had been transferred to Kentucky, Ally and Sam were inseparable. Ally babysat Stevie and Stacey since they were infants, and had grown to be like a sibling to them, so the initial move to Lima had been devastating, but in any case, they had managed to keep in touch whenever possible. This, however, turned out to be minimal as things went sour, and communication fizzled until one day, Ally happened to call and speak with Mr. Evans. Mr. Greer, upon hearing about his old friend's troubles, immediately helped to find Mr. Evans a new job which brought the Evans family back to Tennessee.

The new life seemed to please everyone but Sam, who seemed surly and unhappy about leaving Lima for whatever reason, and Alison had managed to make her own friends as well. While she initially had tried to help Sam settle in when she had the time, he was so distant and detached that she simply dismissed the thought and went on with her own business, until she learned that he had gone back to Lima with some of his friends from McKinley High.

Since then, she made a habit of visiting the Evans family again, babysitting the kids and giving Dwight and Mary some time to actually spend together, not working or preparing dinner for Stevie and Stacy. Bearing all of this in mind, there was nothing surprising or unusual about her showing up for a Saturday morning breakfast.

"Hi, you guys!" she said, ruffling Stevie's hair fondly and giving Stacey a kiss on the forehead. "I just wanted to drop by and give you guys the news - my dad's gotten a job offer. Regional manager," she said with a slightly sheepish grin. "It's super short notice and he's still deciding, but we'd have to move in two weeks -"

"MOVING?" Stacey said shrilly, and Ally gave a slight yelp as the small girls hand dug into her leg before she had a chance to explain any further. "You can't move! Sammy already left and I'm not gonna let you!"

"I'll still talk to you guys all the time, and I'll visit!" Ally said through slightly gritted teeth, gently prying the little girl's grip loose from her calf. "But we're going to get real busy, with getting ready for the move and all, so I wanted to take you guys all out to lunch or something!"

And so, like so many times before, Ally helped Stevie and Stacy pick out their clothes, get ready to go, and head over to Clucks, the local chicken restaurant that Stevie and Stacy constantly insisted was the best place on the face of the earth for reasons neither Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, nor Ally would ever understand.

"So, now that the little monsters have been fed and appeased, it was completely rude of me - where did you say your dad was transferred to?"

"Cincinnati," Ally affirmed. "Cincinnati, Ohio, but he hates the neighborhood, so he and Ma flew there this weekend to look for a nicer place to live. He doesn't mind the commute."

"Ohio!" Stacey said loudly, dropped her chicken strip on her plate and throwing her hands up. "Sammy is in Ohio, Ma, that's where Sammy is!"

"It sure is - Cincinnati's a couple hours away from Lima," Mr. Evans confirmed. "It's nice that they're hiring again out there, it was a real nice setup. Real nice," he nodded, though the slight pain in his voice was evident. It had been nice in Ohio, he remembered. Before he was laid off.

Noting the expression on her husband's face, Mary Evans placed her hand on his shoulder and glanced at Ally. "Would you excuse us a minute, Ally? I'm just going to take Dwight outside for a breath of fresh air, it's getting a bit stuffy." Taking the hint from his wife, Dwight stood and the pair stepped outside, just outside the front door, allowing the automatic door to close behind them.

"We need to talk to Laura and Kendall." Mary stated resolution, clasping her hands in front of her face. "When we get home, we need to hope they haven't found a house somewhere else, and we need them to move to Lima. Ally needs to go to Sam's school."

"I don't think that's for us to meddle in, dear," Dwight pointed out.

"Oh, I know, and I hate to meddle, but - my goodness, Dwight," Mary said breathlessly, shaking her head. "Didn't you even hear Sammy on the phone last night? He's completely devastated, he can't get over this - this _Mercedes_ - and he's going to throw his life away in grief. He's only a teenager, we can't let him do that. And Ally's family is -"

"_Mary_," Dwight interrupted, raising his eyebrows slightly. "What exactly are you trying to suggest?"

"I think Ally's family would be good for Sam - and I think Sam and Ally being together would be good for all of us," Mary said quickly as though she were pulling off a band-aid. "Kendall might be able to get you your old job in Ohio, and I can't think of anyone better for Sam than Ally! Remember how she used to help him with his math homework?"

"She used to do his math homework _for_ him because he would get too frustrated to focus -"

"So she's always had his best interests at heart!" Mary replied as though this settled everything. "I think she's a sweet girl. A very sweet girl, and she's been very good to all of us. Stevie and Stacy adore her -"

"But does Sam?" Dwight pointed out. "I think that's what matters here - and for that matter, would Ally even agree to this? They barely spoke to one another when same was here, before his friends came to get him."

"They barely spoke because he was heartbroken, but Ally did come by and try to reach out to him, remember? Sam just was too busy looking for a job, and helping with the kids, and keeping to himself." Mary pointed out. "Ally has always been a very good friend and I think it's a shame to let all that go to waste, especially when we know that our Sammy needs someone right now. All of his friends are friends with his ex-girlfriend too, so of course he needs someone who's there just for him."

Dwight paused briefly, knowing that at some level, his wife did have a point. It was not by far the most honest course of action, nor was it something that Sam would appreciate if he knew, but as a father, Dwight also felt strongly inclined to protect his son. He nodded in assent.

"But you're going to talk to Ally, and if she refuses, then no deal. No pushing the girl." Dwight nodded. "You said yourself, she's been a very good friend to our entire family, and I don't want her getting scared off, thinking we've only been using her."

Dwight and Mary walked back into the store and made their way back to the booth where Ally was watching Stevie and Stacy, finding now that the pair were bouncing all over the booth chairs with milkshakes in their hands, and all of the plates on the table were empty, despite the fact that Ally didn't appear to have eaten a bite apart from a couple of French fries.

"Ally-bally got us milkshakes!" Stacy said excitedly.

"She told the cashier man that it was our birthday even though it's not," Stevie said in a stage whisper.

"Did you eat all of _Ally-bally's_ chicken strips too, Stevie?" Dwight asked, helping his wife sit back down in the booth before taking a seat again himself. Stevie shook his head.

"Stacy ate some of 'em too!" he said, pointing a finger at his sister. "Ally said it was alright!"

While Stevie and Stacy immediately began launching into stories about who ate more of Ally's chicken strips, which she did not even at all seem to miss, Mary scooted a bit closer to the teenage girl and placed a hand on her forearm.

"Ally, honey," Mary said gently, being very careful about approaching the subject. "You know, Dwight and I think you and Sam should... spend time together, once you move to Ohio."

"Oh, sure!" Ally said brightly. "I thought I'd, you know... call him or something when I got there, maybe he could help me make some new friends, get settled and stuff," she shrugged, pushing some of her floppy brown curls away from her face. She paused and looked up and noticed, however, a look on Mrs. Evans face that seemed incongruous with the message that she had initially received. Her eyebrows were raised, her eyes were expectant, and she gave a very frank quirk of the side of her mouth.

"_Oh_..." Ally said, exhaling slowly over the syllable in realization, going slightly pink in the face. "I'm not - well, you know, I don't think I ever thought of Sam _like that_."

"He's having a really, _really_ hard time right now, Ally. I'm sure he'll tell you himself, but he's gone through a very hard time," Mary said, clasping both of the teenage girl's hands pleadingly. "He needs someone who knows him, who'll look out for him. He has this - this ex-girlfriend. And all of his friends are incredibly close to her too, so of course none of them are going to be _just_ there for him.

"I understand, but... I'm not really comfortable..." Ally said somewhat squeamishly. "Not with pushing him to date me."

"You don't need to push him," Mary insisted. "Just be there for him. Be the good friend you always have been, and if he happens to, you know, grow attached to you, there'd be no harm in it, right?" Mary added with a smile.

At first, Ally did not look entirely convinced, and Mary felt the slight sinking sensation that she might have scared off one of the best people her children, even her entire family had in their lives as a friend. However, Ally exhaled deeply and gave a timid smile. She nodded. After all, she could tell a little white lie and agree to this insane plan just to make Mrs. Evans feel better – she had enough on her plate, after all, and if Ally could say or do anything to ease the woman's mind, she would.

"Atta girl, Ally," Mary said, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders. Dwight gave a slight sigh, but smiled a bit as well and said nothing as Stacy reached over to claim Ally's last French fry.

* * *

><p>"Thanks, you guys," Quinn said, sitting up in the hospital bed that her mother had paid to have brought to their house. She knew she was lucky to have survived the terrible accident on Rachel's would-be wedding day, and that she should simply suck it up and go through her recovery in the hospital like a normal person. However, she was unable to sleep in the hospital. She was hardly able to eat, and her recovery was slowing because it simply was not comforting in any way. Funny enough, it was Finn who suggested that maybe she should recover at home – it was strange how for someone as dim as he tended to be, he seemed once in a while to show a strange sort of brilliance.<p>

And every day, faithfully, her fellow members of New Directions came by to visit her – rain or shine, homework, midterms, or time of the month for the past three weeks. They were there through her rigorous physical therapy sessions, and today, for the first time, she finally recovered some feeling in her toes. It seemed silly and frivolous, the former head cheerleader who could do flips and kicks like no one's business, was thrilled to see a wiggle of her big toe. But her friends were there cheering for her. Ms. Corcoran had even brought Beth by a couple of times to see her.

Finn and Rachel, as it turned out, were stopped midceremony as Mr. Schuester's phone rang about Quinn's accident; her mother happened to be out of town at the time, and ever since her parents' divorce, Quinn had started listing Mr. Schuester as an emergency contact.

"I'm glad you came to your senses," Quinn joked weakly from her bed, glancing at Finn and Rachel briefly before looking back down at her foot and giving her toe another wiggle to make sure that the movement she saw in it earlier hadn't been in her imagination. "But I'm – I'm sorry that it had to be because of me. You probably think I'm a huge attention hog," she laughed weakly.

"Oh, yeah," Santana piped in. "Because neither of them is an attention hog at all. Nope. No way," she said with a smirk in Rachel's direction.

"The doctor says I should be good to go back to school next week. In a wheelchair," Quinn mentioned, attempting to be chipper. "I've been trying to stay caught up with my schoolwork so Yale won't revoke my admission before I graduate, but I'm sure I'll fail P.E. now," she joked again.

After a quick lunch, the group began to disperse – when Mercedes, one of the last to leave, stepped out of Quinn's house, there was a certain blonde-haired boy waiting for her.

"So. Quinn's doing really good. Uh – really well," he said with a lopsided grin, following behind her with his hands in his pockets. Mercedes smiled, but tried not to even look at him.

"Yeah. It's – really great," she said with a slightly forced smile, not because she wasn't happy for Quinn, but because she still wasn't ready to talk about anything like this with Sam… nothing as emotional as the fact that she nearly lost a very good friend. "We're lucky that she's still with us… and we can all still graduate together…"

Uncomfortable silence. Sam hated uncomfortable silences.

"Did you need a ride home?" Sam asked, sounding hopeful as always. "These April showers are the worst –"

"I got a ride with Santana and Brit, they're probably waiting for me," Mercedes interrupted quickly, wringing her hands slightly. "They parked down the street and –"

"You don't need to act like this, you know," Sam pointed out with a grimace. "I'm just trying to be a good friend – we're all friends here –"

"Well, I'm not ready for this," Mercedes said in a near-whisper. "Whatever you're trying to be for me, it's sweet – but I'm not ready for you to really be anything right now."

And again, Sam felt as though his heart was snapped in two as Mercedes walked away. He walked back to his truck and left in the opposite direction.


	2. Chapter 2

It was not that Sam Evans hated history. He loved this history class. Mr. Schuester was the absolute best history teacher he'd ever had, without a doubt – but it did not change the fact that Sam couldn't give a rat's behind about where a man in a powdered wig would be eating dinner on a given night in 1776. So instead, he had taken to playing a game of hundred-square tic-tac-toe with himself. Mr. Schuester wouldn't mind, he thought.

The door gave a creak, and while same was enthralled with this new game he'd invented in the recesses of his spiral notebook, a girl entered with wavy brown hair, a bright red Pokemon t-shirt, knee-length Dickies shorts, and a pair of square black glasses.

"Is this – U.S. History?" she inquired quizzically. "Mr. Schuester's class? I'm new -"

"That's right! Figgins said I'd be getting a new student today," Mr. Schue said, pausing from his lecture and checking his roll call sheet on his desk. "Miss Greer?"

"Ally?"

Everyone turned around when suddenly, Sam's attention was turned to the front of the class, and the girl's face lit up with a smile.

"Hi, Sammy!" she said with a pleasant wave.

"You know each other?" Mr. Schuester inquired.

"Oh, sure!" Sam said, sitting up in his seat. "We were in diapers together – I mean, you know. Different diapers. Same time," he explained.

"Awesome!" Mr. Schue said, clapping his hands together. "Well, she can have a seat next to you, and you can get her up to speed with my class. Sound like a plan?"

And evidently, it did, as Same moved his backpack that was taking up the seat next to him for her to take. She made towards the seat, and Sam leaned over so his forearm rested on her desk.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," he laughed. "But I'm pretty sure you knew I moved back here. No text? No Facebook message? Nothin'?"

"Well, I talked to your mom before everything was finalized out here, I figured she'd tell you already," Ally said bashfully. "But I guess the saying's right about assuming," she shrugged.

In the recesses of her mind, Ally decided that she could just as well forget about the conversation he'd had with Mrs. Evans – Sam was her best friend, and even though it had seemed cloudy if they were still good friends, the way he greeted her proved in Ally's mind that they were indeed still best friends – and there was no reason to go around ruining it.

"Come to glee with me."

"What?" Ally asked with her forehead wrinkled – she'd been so immersed in her own thoughts that she had completely stopped paying attention to what he was saying.

"I'm in glee club – I know I told you about that on the phone once," he said with a lopsided grin. "And don't think I don't remember when you tried to make yourself a dress out of tin foil and call yourself Mariah Carey."

"Oh, yeah. Bring that up, that's totally not embarrassing," she said with a comical grimace.

But Ally was never one to be able to say no to Sam, and after an entire class period of pestering, he managed to get her to halfheartedly agree to come with him to the glee club meeting. The first person in the room were two students in wheelchairs – a boy with glasses, and very beautiful blonde girl.

"What's up, early birds?" Sam asked. "Excited to get your glee on?"

"Turns out, you get released early if you're in a wheelchair to avoid hallway traffic," the blonde girl said with an optimistic grin before peering around Sam at Ally. "You brought a friend?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sam said excitedly, flipping his hair and nonchalantly rubbing the back of his neck. "This is –"

"_A new student?_" said an almost overzealous voice behind them that made Ally jump. She turned around to see a petite, dark-haired girl enter, followed closely by a very tall, pale boy. Close behind them was an Asian couple, holding hands and mulling over what looked like a physics book. "Welcome to New Directions! I'm Rachel Berry – it's a little late in show choir season, but I'm _sure_ we can find a place for you, maybe –"

"_Maybe_," Sam interrupted, clearing his throat, "You could let me introduce her to everyone before you give her a panic attack," he chuckled when he noticed how red in the face Ally went. "This is Ally Greer – my best bud from Tennessee," he said, giving her a fond clap on the shoulder that nearly made her stumble forward. "Ally, that's Quinn and Artie, Tina, Mike, Rachel, Finn –"

"Greetings, gleeophytes!"

Two girls now entered the room in cheerleading uniforms; the one who spoke was tan, with dark hair, and she immediately eyed the one unfamiliar face in the room. "I'm allergic to cats, so I think you need to take that creature off your head – oh, that's your hair. _Sorry_ –"

"You're not allergic to cats. You're lying and Lord Tubbington knows it," interrupted the blonde cheerleader with whom she had entered hand-in-hand.

"I was just trying to welcome her," the tan girl said with a saccharine smile. "I'm Santana, and this is my girlfriend, Brittany."

Now, things had finally quieted a bit, and Ally had a chance to speak up – one word, anyway.

"Hi…"

Awkward silence. Sam couldn't stand awkward silences.

"Where's everyone at?" Sam asked suddenly, saving Ally from having to speak more for now. "I wanted Ally to meet everyone before talking to Mr. Schue about her joining –"

"I think we have an imbalance of brunettes in this glee club," came another voice – male this time- entering from the hallway. "I have a paper for government about civil rights violations and I think I'm going to write about this – who's she?"

"This is Ally," Sam said with a slight sigh, and Ally gave a small giggle at the exasperation in his voice at having to introduce her multiple times. "And Ally, this is Puck. So, you've met almost everyone," he shrugged. "Now all that's missing is –"

And right on cue, a pair of boys entered hand in hand, followed by an African American girl, all talking amiably with one another as they strolled in.

"Kurt and Blaine," Sam said. "And this is…"

The black girl paused when she noticed that Sam was introducing a girl to the rest of the glee club, and she eyed her with a strange expression. It wasn't angry by any means, but it was surprised. Confused. Questioning.

"This is Mercedes," Sam said hesitantly, only looking at her briefly. "Guys, this is Ally. She's one of my best, oldest friends. I'm trying to get her to join New Directions." And again, silence. After what felt like hours, but really was only seconds, Mercedes reached her hand towards Ally.

"Nice to meet you…"

Ally would have known that this was _the_ Mercedes that Mary Evans had told her about, even without the introduction. She was well-dressed, she had an amazing bright smile and a warmth to her that even Ally could pick up on, even just shaking her hand. For Sam's sake, Ally gave the girl a smile, and thankfully, she would not have to try and awkwardly craft a conversation with her as Mr. Schuester finally entered.

"Awesome, Sam! You brought Miss Greer in for us – we're happy to have you," he said warmly. "I think it's only fair to ask for a small vocal sample?"

Ally paused and stared at Sam, completely dumbstruck. She'd known there would be singing, of course, but she had expected to be a quiet and appreciative audience member. Now, however, it seemed as though everyone in the room was looking at her eagerly. Sam noticed the deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face and gave her another pat on the shoulder before getting up to retrieve one of the band's guitars stored in the corner of the room.

"We have one we used to sing when we were kids," he explained to everyone. "She's just a little shy, right Ally?"

She simply nodded and swallowed hard while Sam gave the guitar a quick strum and grinned at her.

_Great_, Ally thought to herself. _Sure, just smile away, Sammy. Smile away while you kill me with humiliation_.

"I'll start," he said before getting into the starting bars of the song.

_I can't remember when you weren't there  
>When I didn't care for anyone but you<em>

_I swear, we've been through everything there is  
>Can't imagine anything we've missed<em>

_Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do –_

He shot her a grin and signaled the part where she always joined in, and she clenched her eyes shut and obliged.

_I can't remember what I used to do  
>Who I trusted, who I listened to before<br>I swear you taught me everything I know  
>Can't imagine needing someone so<br>But through the years it seems to me  
>I need you more and more<em>

_Through the years, you've never let me down  
>You've turned my life around<br>The sweetest days I've found, I've found with you_

_Through the years, I've never been afraid_

_I love the life we've made_

_And I'm so glad I've stayed right here with you, through the years_

Ally somehow managed to open her eyes somewhere during the chorus when Sam joined in with her, and she finally managed to take a breath when the song was over.

"_YAY!_" came a nasal, high-pitched voice in the hallway, followed by rapid clapping. Ally jumped again and turned around to see another skinny girl walking into the room. "Sorry I'm late, everyone, I know you missed me! But I'm here now to appreciate the – new… frizzy… person!" she said, taking a seat in the front row and staring almost blankly at Ally.

"And… that's Sugar," Sam laughed, nodding toward the girl. "You get used to her."

"Well, she's pretty good, she can –"

"She has about the same vocal range as Quinn, similar timbre, so with another strong mezzo-soprano, we'll have our harmonies even more on point," Rachel piped in brightly. "No offense, boys, but the tenors and baritones get a little overwhelming –"

"I'm gonna throw her a party!" Sugar interrupted as though Rachel wasn't saying anything remotely as important. "Because she's new and she looks sad and lonely and a little bit homeless. I'll ask my daddy to have our maid clean the guesthouse on Friday."

"I didn't say you'd get used to her _right away_," Sam muttered, noting Ally's surprised expression with amusement.

"But dress normal. Not like that," Sugar said frankly. "No shirts with Pokemon. Or Digimon. Or any other kind of 'mon'."

"I think she hates Jamaicans." Brittany piped in.

Of course, it mattered very little that Ally wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to go to a party with people she barely knew, but Sam didn't seem to think it was a bad idea. In fact, for the rest of the afternoon, he kept telling Ally that she shouldn't chicken out, that he was thrilled that she was meeting his friends, and he hoped that she'd be close to them to.

It looked like she had been roped in.


End file.
